James Leonard Reinsch (June 28, 1908 – May 9, 1991) was a broadcasting executive. He was president and CEO of

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

. Behind the scenes, he gave advice to four Presidents. He assisted the White House Press Secretary office in 1945, during the transition from President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

to President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

and advised

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

on his 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech.

Career

Reinsch was born in

Streator, Illinois Streator is a city in LaSalle and Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. As of the 2020 censu ...

in 1908. He majored in Advertising at Northwestern University, where he won the D.F. Keller prize for this thesis. He took over the development of what was then WHIO for

James M. Cox James Middleton Cox (March 31, 1870 July 15, 1957) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th and 48th governor of Ohio, and a two-term U.S. Representative from Ohio. As the Democratic nominee for President of the United St ...

. Reinsch was sent to Atlanta, in 1939, when Cox purchased the Atlanta Journal and Georgian and the radio stations. He was put in charge of WSB radio. In 1942 he was put in charge of the three radio stations; WIOD Miami, WSB Atlanta, WHIG in Dayton. Reinsch was called on by Cox to assist in communications at the White House during the transition from the Roosevelt to Truman administrations in 1946. In the 1960 presidential campaign, he suggested that the two opponents stand for the hour-long debate, knowing that

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

had injured a knee when he struck it on a car door. To Mr. Reinsch's surprise, Nixon agreed. He also served as a key advisor to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and

. Reinsch narrowly avoided being the first owner of an Atlanta football team. In the summer of 1965, he reached a tenantive deal to purchase the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

from the Phipps family and move them to Atlanta. However, in the time between the deal (where he left for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

right after due to having to travel for his wife's surgery) and June 30, 1965, the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(as led by

Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American businessman and executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement i ...

) announced that

Rankin Smith Rankin M. Smith Sr. (October 29, 1925 – October 26, 1997) was an American businessman and philanthropist. A longtime resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Smith was very active in the Atlanta community. Smith served as president of the Life Insurance ...

, among a few others, would be part of an expansion team in Atlanta that would begin play in 1966. In 1973, Reinsch retired from Cox Broadcasting. In March of that same year, Reinsch was presented the coveted Gold Medal award from the International Radio and Television Society. He was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1979 to 1985. Reinsch died on May 9, 1991 of heart failure at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

.[.https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-05-13-mn-1101-story.html In September 2003, the Library of American Broadcasting named Reinsch as one of the "First Fifty Giants of Broadcasting".

References

Notes

External links

J. Leonard Reinsch Oral History Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinsch, J. Leonard 1908 births 1991 deaths People from Streator, Illinois American radio executives Cox Enterprises 20th-century American businesspeople